Chico Wildflower Century-4/27/08

[Smooooth]

Sassy and I are signed up for this one on our tandem. Who wants to play??? :D

http://www.chicovelo.org/wildflower.html

[kb5ql]

This looks fairly "easy". We did more elevation gain doing Mt. Hamilton 2 weekends ago in 40 miles. Hmm. Tempting.

I assume you guys will be pulling us the entire ride??? :)

[cccorlew]

My daughter has her prom the night before, so I don't think there's any way we can get there according to my sweet wife. I keep hoping we can work something out. I did the metric last year and really want to do the "real ride" this time.

[cgallagh]

We are thinking about it. RR had a prior commitment but that may have changed. She has a road race in Livermore the day before. We did that ride last year. It rained like crazy on the descent from Paradise and we got doored in downtown Chico, three miles from the end. It would be nice to finish it. The two big climbs are pretty good. I had only been riding five months when we did it last year. Will let you know later.

[jbull13]

I will be doing the Big Sur Marathon that weekend, but Chico Wildflower is a great ride. I have done it many times and would encourage anyone who has the time to do it. It is less climbing than Mt. Hamilton, but believe me, when you are done you will know that you did some climbing. The Honeyrun Rd climb is an absolute classic. It is a narrow one lane road with lots of switchbacks and nice views (and if it has rained recently you get some little waterfalls in many of the 180 degree corners). Table Mt. is nice as well with some views of Lake Oroville.

Good ride.

[MetalClydesdale]

Looks like a fun ride, I think I could be in for this though it is a long way from home for me. Is there anywhere decent to camp the night before the ride or am I bound to getting a hotel?

[damnpoor]

Considering how my house is in Chico, I pretty much have to go.

[DiabloScott]

Looks like a fun ride, I think I could be in for this though it is a long way from home for me. Is there anywhere decent to camp the night before the ride or am I bound to getting a hotel?

I used to have a friend with a trailer - one year we parked it at the Sierra Nevada brewery, one year at the Moose (or was it Elk?) Lodge.

Honey Run should be on everyone's list of must do's.

[cccorlew]

WAIT! My plan worked out! Tricia and I ARE going to do the wildflower! We've sent the daughter to a convent and we'll pick her up someday when she's .... ready.

WOO HOO!!!!!!!

See you there.

[jbull13]

There is camping at Lake Oroville and at Black Butte Lake. Both are 30min or so outside of Chico.

[scarry]

I'm there. Camping at the fairgrounds. Love the food and the ride.

[kb5ql]

Is there really camping at the fairgrounds? that might make it more tempting...

[scarry]

You can sign up for the camping when you register online for the ride.

The fairgrounds is the ride start and all the meals.

[joe@vwvortex]

I've done this ride probably over a dozen times or more since 1989. While there isn't a whole lot of climbing - the Table Mountain Climb is very exposed and if it's a hot day (which is usually is) it can wear on you. The descent is on a marginal road as well.

The last 20 miles of so are in orchards with a headwind which also can be nasty. It all depends on the weather.

Hopefully the support will be better than in the last couple years where they ran ridiculously low on food at the lunch stop and ran out of water at the top of Table Mountain.

[Red Rider]

WAIT! My plan worked out! Tricia and I ARE going to do the wildflower! We've sent the daughter to a convent and we'll pick her up someday when she's .... ready.

WOO HOO!!!!!!!

See you there.

"April Fool?" she asked, hopefully.

[jonathanb715]

WAIT! My plan worked out! Tricia and I ARE going to do the wildflower! We've sent the daughter to a convent and we'll pick her up someday when she's .... ready.

WOO HOO!!!!!!!

See you there.

Not the Sisters of Mercy, I hope?!! I went to a Catholic school run by the Sisters of Mercy, and grew up believing the church had a well-developed sense of irony.

JB

[cccorlew]

Not the Sisters of Mercy, I hope?!! I went to a Catholic school run by the Sisters of Mercy, and grew up believing the church had a well-developed sense of irony.

JB

No, this is a distant convent, unreachable by car and out of cell phone range.
Perfect for my needs.....

[Spiduhman]

Hope to see some of you all BFers there!

I plan on starting worklife over (again) in Chico monday the 21st, so have been and will be busy winding up things here in Antioch over the next two weeks... and, likely will not have opportunity to finally meet more of you Bay Area folk anytime soon :(

My knees have been a bit achey, but I plan on trying my first century (since Lighthouse, circa 1978 - heh, on that trip the sag wagon passed me on the way back after my nap on the beach, and, when I rolled into the Mission at about 5:00 p.m., the folk were gone, and I never got my tshirt!) April 27th!

I'll be on my Giant VT, blue and silver, with Ritchey OCR wheels fitted with slicks f' th' road, large silver barends, and a minipump wrapped in red foodwrap, wearing either threadbare red jersey, or, if it's not too hot out, PureHero Spiderman jersey, the silver Bell helmet with cute lil' visor, etc. Say "hey."


Ahem.

There is also camping out by the Sacramento River, Woodson Bridge; it's o.k. I'd suggest the fairgrounds, on account of the earlier the start, the better chance of getting back to town without the headwind.

[oaklandcyclist]

This is one I've yet to experience, and I hear such good things about it, and am all the more enticed now. Alas, I think I'll have to sit it out this year again since I'm helping run DMD the day/night before (my duties usually end in the wee hours of the morning). A drive straight up to Chico afterwards to ride just doesn't sound like a prudent or fun thing to do.

Question for you vets: how feasible would it be to ride the course on another date self-supported? (I do this often enough) Are there sufficient number of stores along the way? I think I'd really only need one stop, ideally somewhere between mile 40 and 50. Options between mile 75 and 85 might be nice too.

Would appreciate suggestions.

[jbull13]

Doing it unsupported is no problem. A few years ago I was training for an ironman and I did the Wildflower course solo every few weeks. I still ride large parts of it on a normal basis. There is a store in Oroville just before you start to climb Table Mountain. It is on the left side of Table Mt. BLVD just before you turn left onto Cherokee Rd. There is also a store at the intersection of Durham-Pentz Rd. and Clark Rd. (just before you come to Butte College). It will be on your left as well. The first store is 50 or so miles in, the second is 70 or so in.

Of course, when you get a chance get up to Chico on Wildflower weekend and get the full experience. You can do it solo though.

[oaklandcyclist]

Cool. Thanks for that precise info, and it sounds like the stores are ideally located. Perfect. Looking forward to exploring!

[ROJA]

Will this one sell out? How soon do I need to decide. I am frankly not sure that I have the endurance to ride this long. My longest ride of the year is about 45-50 miles so far with around 3000 ft of climbing. Is there a bail-out point if I lose steam?

Thanks.

[cccorlew]

Will this one sell out? How soon do I need to decide. I am frankly not sure that I have the endurance to ride this long. My longest ride of the year is about 45-50 miles so far with around 3000 ft of climbing. Is there a bail-out point if I lose steam?

Thanks.

there is a 100K option that is very flat, FLATFLOWER. Did it last year. Liked it.

[Smooooth]

Great to see all the interest building. We will be there and look forward to meeting some new bf'ers.

RR hope you can make it : )

We can make a meeting time and place for those coming.

See you there.

[damnpoor]

This course is a piece of cake. The toughest section is only 6 miles long and around 1700', so compared to some of the bay area mountains it's totally wimpy.

[MetalClydesdale]

Alright, I'm in. I'm camping at the fairgrounds and eating at the Marco Polo Dinner Saturday night. Looking forward to meeting some new cycling friends.

[Smooooth]

Two more weeks : )

C U There

[MetalClydesdale]

A week away and I've had to rearrange my work schedule. I'll still be there but not until early evening on Saturday. I'm camping at the fairgrounds, I'll be the big guy in the kilt with the shaved head, feel free to walk up and say hi. See you there.

[humboldt'sroads]

Definitely in - looks like a piece of cake. It should be a good measure of how I'm doing on training four the Unknown Coast, which has twice the climbing of Wildflower in the last 25 miles!

[Smooooth]

Unfortunately we will not be making it :( You guys have a great time!! Read on:

Well last saturday was my big race. 19 mile mountain bike, about 3,300 ft. climbing. It was 45 degrees and windy at the start. I was actually shivering.

We finally started. My goal was a top 20 finish-so I stayed with the lead group as well as I could. At minute 25 I crashed passing on the outside of a downhill corner. My front tire got into some sand and plowed. I went over the bars-not such a big deal in a mtb race. Only problem was my right out stretched hand impacted with a rock. I got right back on my bike and kept going-self assessing on the way. I was pretty sure I had done some damage-how bad I did not know. My bars were knocked a little out of alignment-I could deal with that. I kept racing and trying to put my wrist pain out of my mind.

The pain was increasing as I continued. I looked at my time- 1:25. Lots of pain now, but I knew I should not have too much farther to go.

The last section of the course to the finish line was very rough/bumpy. I just had to hang on a little longer. Finally I saw the finish line in the distance while my brother Tony cheered me on. 1:40:40, 22nd place out 106. Top finisher in my class was 1:31:14.

MTB XC EVENT: 124-XC SPORT 45-49 MALE
FINAL RESULTS - Saturday, April 19, 2008 1:49:39 PM
PlaceBib First Name City/State Finish Time
April 17-20, 2008

1777 GORDON OAKLAND, CA 01:40:40
22 REESE 00:09:23.3
22 REESE
I went to first aid right away. My 2 brother's and sister in law were there to give me support : ) First aid thought I might have injured the scaphoid bone in my wrist. Jeremiah and I got out of there as soon as possible-drove me to Kaiser. X-rays, diagnoses - fractured scaphoid bone.

Healing of this bone is complicated by the lack of blood flow in this area. Here is information on this :

http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00012

I am Happy that I finished. Lessons learned: get much stronger so that passing on the climbs is no problem. Passing in the tight higher speed areas is not necessary.

Gordon

the splinted, left handed typer

[damnpoor]

Sorry to hear about your hand, hopefully when it heals up we'll get to see you at some events later in the year.

I had some bad stuff happen last week also, and haven't been on the bike in the past 12 days, so I'll have to see how I'm feeling this coming weekend and I'll probably keep the tempo down. The wind has been howling lately, so everyone should plan on a strong headwind on the northbound leg of the route.

[humboldt'sroads]

huff a nug, pop a pharmie, chug a brew...it's chico! Just kidding (almost) that sux.

[rumbutter]

Sounds nasty smooooth.....ouch

Last minute for me but it looks like I will be riding. Havent figured out anywhere to say so it will be a very early start and a 3 1/2 hour drive in the morning. :eek:
I need to get some practise in on the recumbent for the Davis Double and this looks like a good century to do it.

[BlastRadius]

Heal up fast Smooooth. That sounds painful. Good job on the race though.

[cccorlew]

Prepare for liftoff.

[damnpoor]

It's 11:45 the night before the century and I can't fall asleep. How awesome is that?

[scottmorrison99]

Pics? Anyone?...Anyone?...Bueller?

[rumbutter]

It was really hot out there today especially up table mountain. I cant believe how many people were there. The rest stops were crazy busy but it was a fun social event.